Goals from Miranda, Arda Turan and Leo Baptistao were enough to see Atletico open their Group G campaign with a win, but Simeone has stressed that the more experienced duo of Zenit and Porto remain favourites to progress past the group stages.

"I repeat, Zenit and Porto are favourites. They've participated more in the Champions League," Simeone said at a press conference, before admitting that Hulk and Danny made things difficult for Atleti.

"The presence of Hulk and Danny was dangerous. Zenit attacked well after Luciano Spalletti made some changes at half-time, but defensively they retreated less."

Meanwhile, Baptistao, whose goal with 10 minutes left effectively ended the game as a contest, praised Atletico’s character.

"The team was very good. We played the game Simeone wanted us to play.

"We knew that the match was going to be very, very tough. Zenit have great players and we expected nothing less of them.

"Playing the Champions League is different. It was my first time playing in the competition. Hearing the anthem at the start was exciting."